


Almost Human, Almost Whole

by AXEe



Category: Almost Human, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Human, Android Alex, Cop Astra, F/F, Gen, Near Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 05:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14867303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: In 2048, science and technology have advanced at an uncontrollable pace.   Unknown drugs and weapons flood our streets and schools.  The contraband is controlled and distributed by violent, faceless criminal organizations.   The crime rate rises an astounding four hundred percent.  Outnumbered and overwhelmed, law enforcement implements a new strategy.   Every police officer is partnered with advanced, combat-model android...ORA very late submission for GD Monthly 6 :=)





	1. The Cop

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [GDMonthly6](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/GDMonthly6) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
> Artificial Intelligence is taking the world by storm, so much so that Alex and/or Astra may be one of them!
> 
> Hello all! Here's my submission for GD Monthly 6, Artificial intelligence being the prompt, this one is a fusion with the short-lived, but excellent 2013 series _Almost Human_ , starring Karl Urban and Micheal Ealy. Urban plays burned out cop 'John Kennex' who after leading a raid on a criminal organization goes bad, he ends up with a prosthetic leg and spent the last seventeen months in a coma, due to a police android leaving him and his injured partner behind, since it wouldn't be 'logical' to stay behind as the partner was too injured to be saved and was going to die anyway. After waking up, Kennex tries to deal with his PTSD when he's called back into work by his captain and partnered with a standard police-issue android (which he promptly throws from his car while on the freeway). As a result. Kennex is partnered with an older model android named 'Dorian' (Michael Ealy), Dorian and the rest of his line of androids--the DRN series ('Dorian', 'DRN', get it? :=)--were decommissioned due to the fact that they were too human (Dorian's operation system is even called 'synthetic soul'), meaning that they can actually experience emotional responses to situations, which meant that they turned out just a mentally exhausted and burned out as their human partners. Dorian is Kennex's polar opposite, he's friendly, sarcastic, and dislikes being called 'synthetic'.
> 
> Anyway, I'm rambling here, but basically the interaction between the two struck a cord with me and I got to thinking of doing a GD fusion AU based on it, so there! :=). Enjoy :=)

******

**National City  
2048…**

The explosions were getting closer. Brushing her hair out of her face, Astra ducked another burst of gunfire and half-stumbled, half-crawled to Lincoln’s side

“Hey,” the other cop coughed, a bit of blood dribbling out of his mouth “looks like they knew we were coming”

“Don’t try to talk,” Astra told him as she looked around, spotting an MX-43 just a few feet away “hey! Get over here!” she ordered.

The android abandoned its firing position and quickly came over

“How may I be of assistance?” it asked

“Yeah, yeah, scan him!” Astra ordered as the MX’s eyes studied Lincoln’s bloody form

“Puncture to the left lung and a tear to the femoral artery,” it announced as it looked back up at Astra “he will not survive” it stated

“I don’t care, we need an escort out of here!” Astra ordered

“He will not survive,” the android repeated “there are other officers in need of assistance. Do you wish to remain?”

“YES!” Astra snarled

“Understood” the android abruptly stood up and hurried away to another firing line

“Hey! Get back here!” Astra bellowed out after it “that’s an order!” snarling in frustration, she slung one of Linclon’s arms over her shoulders and hauled him to his feet “come on” she hissed as they staggered out from behind the limited protection offered by the bullet-riddled police cruiser, gunfire peppering the air around them as another explosion rocked the alleyway, knocking them to the ground.

Groaning at the ringing in her head, Astra stared in shock at Lincoln’s lifeless face. Rolling over onto her back, she looked down at herself, giggling madly at the sight of her right leg, the limb cleanly severed above the knee.

Then another explosion hit and everything went dark and quiet…

******

**Seventeen months later…**

It was a ringing that woke Astra. Blinking, she shook off the cobwebs and turned to her smart screen, swiping a finger across the transparent surface to answer the call

“ _Astra_ ” Captain Hank Henshaw’s face filled the screen “ _sorry to wake you_ ” he apologized

“No, no,” Astra shook her head “what’s up?” she grunted as she sat up

“ _There was a armored car robbery earlier this morning,_ ” Hank explained “ _looks like one your old cold cases. Care to come in and take a look?_ ”

Astra blinked and rubbed at one eye

“Sure,” she grumbled out just before she swiped her finger across the screen, ending the call. Throwing back the covers, she examined her amputated right leg “why not?” she muttered as she sat up and hobbled over to the charging station for her prostatic and flipped it on

“ _Synthetic calibrating….calibration complete_ ”

Swinging the limb off the charging station, she slipped it on, smirking humorlessly at how the holographic technology mimicked her flesh tone and texture instantly, changing the anatomically correct, grey plastic and alloy prosthetic into a replica of her other leg. Unless you physically touched it, no one—not even the user—would know the difference—between it and a real flesh and blood limb. Designed to interface directly with her nervous system, the limb was intended to work just like a real one, supposedly you could even stub your toe on it, as well as walk, run, jump, and dance just as easily as you could with your own legs.

Still, the damn thing always felt…cold to Astra…

******

Entering NCPD Headquarters, Astra was momentarily taken aback by how many MX-43s now roamed the bullpen. Stamping down her unease, she nodded politely to a few fellow officers as she made her way to Hank’s office, coming up short as an MX suddenly blocked her path

“Good morning, Detective Inze, I am MX-081,” it greeted “I have been assigned as your partner per National City Police Ordinance C-42-J-21—”

“I don’t care” Astra brushed past the android and stormed into Hank’s office

“Before you say anything it wasn’t my decision” Hank rumbled from behind his desk

“What the hell, Hank?” Astra spat “I am not partnering with _that_ ” she jerked her thumb back towards the MX which remained where she’d left it by the door

“Then file a complaint with City Hall and the Justice Department,” Hank sighed “look, the Cadmus raid was one of the deadliest failed raids in the history of U.S. law enforcement. People got scared. The fact that officers like you are standing here right now is partly due to the fact that we had MX-43 androids there to protect us”

Astra audibly ground her teeth together, but held back her voice, instead asking

“What’s this about a carjacking?”

“L-Corp truck carrying medical supplies was run off the road, the drivers killed, and the cargo hijacked,” Hank explained “it looks like one of Cadmus’ jobs”

Astra felt a chill go through her

“Cadmus hasn’t been heard from for seventeen months” she muttered

“My point exactly,” Hank nodded “you’re one of the few officers who is familiar with Cadmus and who’s still alive. Now you can hate that thing out there all you want, but right now we need you back”

Astra sighed

“All right”

******

The truck hadn’t just been robbed, it had been attacked. The truck currently lay on its side, the doors mangled and twisted, one looked like it had been wrenched right off its hinges.

Getting out of the car, Astra surveyed the crime scene. This definitely had all the hallmarks of one of Cadmus’ smash-and-grab jobs

“Detective Inze, with your permission, I will coordinate with the other officers and compile a report on the crime scene”

Astra had nearly forgotten about the android

“Yeah, sure, you do that” she muttered, not really caring what the machine did as long as it did it as far away from her as possible. Ignoring it, she slipped under the crime scene tape and assessed the damage

“Looks like an RPG”

She blinked, turning at the voice

“Kara?” she stared at the glasses-wearing blond standing before her in a CSI windbreaker “Kara!” she laughed “what are you doing here?” she swept the girl up into a hug “oh, last I heard you had just entered the Academy”

“Aunt Astra, that was seventeen months ago,” Kara laughed “graduated top my class,” she beamed “you are now looking at the _head_ of NCPD CSI’s unit” she proclaimed

“My, my, aren’t we full of ourselves,” Astra chuckled “so,” she nodded to the truck “you were saying something about an RPG?”

“Oh yeah,” Kara nodded “looks like the thieves were in another vehicle. According to the tire tracks, they drove out perpendicular to the truck on the cross street and took out the front axel with an RPG. Once the truck rolled over, they stormed it and killed the drivers, before loading practically everything into their own vehicle and making a break for it”

“Any DNA evidence?” Astra asked

“No,” Kara shook her head “looks like they used a bio-bomb, scrubbed the area clean of any biological trace evidence”

“Figures,” Astra muttered “how many suspects?”

“Judging by the footprints at least six, possibly more”

“OK,” Astra nodded “what was the truck carrying?”

“Medical supplies,” Kara answered “all experimental. New cancer treatments, AIDs vaccines, myklon red”

Astra stumbled as those last two words suddenly flashed by her mind’s eye. They were written on a canister

“Aunt Astra?” she shook herself off as Kara’s hands steadied her “you all right?”

“Yeah,” Astra nodded “yeah. Myklon red, what is that?”

“It’s a binding agent,” Kara answered “they use it to help drugs and other vaccines bond with blood cells better”

Astra nodded

“What else was taken?” she asked

“Just what I told you”

“Witnesses?”

“Security cameras only” Kara pointed up to an outdated traffic camera mounted on a streetlight

Astra scowled up at the camera…

******

With no physical witnesses to interview and Kara giving her concerned looks every five seconds, Astra eventually abandoned the crime scene and was driving back to Headquarters when the android sitting in the passenger seat suddenly spoke up

“Detective, I must inquire as to your reaction at the crime scene. Your behavior was indicative of the possibility of mental health issues, possibly a petite maul seizure,”

“I got a little dizzy” Astra dismissed

“Your psychological profile indicates that you are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to your injuries sustained in the field. Pursuant to department regulations, I must report your condition to your superiors and recommend that you undergo psychological reve—”

Before it could finish its sentence, Astra reached across the android and opened the passenger side door, then, gripping the machine by the shoulder, she pushed it out. The android made no attempt to stop her or itself as it violently tumbled down the length of the roadway, breaking in half before it was hit by a truck.

Watching all of this in the review mirror, Astra felt herself smile a bit…

******

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THOSE THINGS COST?!?!” Hank roared

“Too much?” Astra quipped

Hank scowled, a vein his forehead visibly throbbing as he sat back down with a sigh

“Unfortunately, all active MX units are already partnered with other officers,” he sighed “however, Department guidelines state that you must by partnered with an police-model android,” he pulled a sheet of paper off his desk and handed it to her “report to Mr. Schott in the Tech unit. He’ll assign you a new android”

Grumbling, Astra took the paper and stalked out of the office. Watching her go, Hank glanced back at his terminal, smiling to himself…


	2. The Android

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter TWO! And away we go :=)

******

“Hey, Winn?” Astra sidestepped a rolling cart as she entered the horribly cluttered tech unit lab

“Down here!” a male voice called back. Following the sound, Astra soon found herself in an even more cluttered room

“Hey, Winn” she greeted

“Astra, hey,” Winn grinned as he saw her “Henshaw told me to expect you. Said there was something wrong with your android?”

Astra shrugged as she handed him the sheet of paper

“He…fell out of a moving car?” Winn visibly gapped at her

“Yeah,” she shrugged “must have been some kind of software glitch or something”

“Software gli—ay,” Winn groaned and rolled his eyes “come on,” he stood up and led her across the lab to what looked like a row of body bags hanging from a rack. Rifling through it, Winn unzipped one “here are. Astra, meet Alex,” he gestured to the inactive android inside “old ALX model, the department decommissioned the whole line about…twelve years ago, I think”

“Why?” Astra asked, giving the inert machine a leery gaze

Winn smirked

“Software glitch,” he chuckled “they run on an OS called ‘synthetic soul’,” he explained “makes them a little…too human unfortunately. Some models couldn’t handle the emotional responses they got from the situations they encountered. An ALX unit during a hostage crisis might actually start sympathizing with both the hostage takers and the hostages, for example”

“And Hank wants me partnered with this one?”

“Yep,” Winn shrugged. He looked up at her, smirking “hey, just look at this way, she’s got problems too…”

******

The android looked frighteningly human, with short brown hair and fair skin. It reminded Alex of the story of Sleeping Beauty as she helped Winn set it down on an exam table

“Why a woman?” Astra wondered

Winn looked up from his terminal as he prepped the android for reactivation

“Huh?”

“Why a woman?” Astra repeated

“Uh, don’t know, really,” Winn shrugged “I think I read somewhere that the idea was to make them seem nonthreatening or something like that,” he shrugged as if it didn’t really matter to him as he entered the final keystroke “OK, here we go” he hit ‘ENTER’.

Instantly the android jerked up, gasping as if it could actually draw breath as its eyes opened

“How long?” it asked as it looked towards Winn

“Uh, twelve years, two months, and three days” Winn answered as it sat up, turning towards Astra

“Detective,” it held out a hand “I’m Alex”

“I don’t care” Astra replied as she refused to take the offered hand…

******

Meanwhile, at that same moment, Detective Donavan was in the middle of a bowl of soup when an SUV sped over, civilians scattering in panic as armed masked men burst out of the car. With two well-placed shots they took out his MX before one gunman took aim at him, a white film bursting from the gun’s barrel to envelop Donavan’s head before he was hit on the back of the head and bodily dragged to the SUV...

******

“Nice car,” the android remarked “older model, but nice”

Astra grumbled but said nothing, just tightened her grip on the steering wheel as the android looked around the car, fingering the medal dangling from rearview

“Huh, St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers,” it remarked as it turned the medal over “who’s ‘A’?” it asked as it noticed the initial on the back “ex-boyfriend? Ex-girlfriend?” it actually grinned and _winked_ at her

“Synthetic off” Astra ordered

“Don’t call me that, I don’t like that”

“Android’s aren’t suppose to have likes or dislikes” Astra snarled

“ _Most_ androids aren’t suppose to, you mean” the android countered as Astra’s cell rang

“ _Astra,_ ” Hank rumbled on the other end “ _Detective Donavan’s been kidnapped. By Cadmus_ ”

“What?!” Astra demanded “why?”

“ _We don’t know yet, but we got one of the suspects in custody. I want you down here to question him ASAP_ ”

“Got it” Astra hung up and spun the wheel, flipping on the lights as she did.

Besides her, the android chuckled…

******

Entering headquarters, Astra earned some surprised stares, but of a different kind then this morning

“Whoa,” Vasquez breathed as they passed her desk “haven’t seen an ALX in years”

“Geez, Inze, who’d you piss off you get saddled with an old piece of shit like that?”

“Funny, O’Malley, real funny” Astra grumbled

“I didn’t think so” the android commented as they entered Hank’s office

“What the hell happened?” Astra demanded

“We’re still determining,” Hank answered. He nodded to the android “I see you met your new partner”

“Yeah, amazing, it’s so lifelike,” Astra dismissed “what do we know about this guy?”

“John Corbin,” Hank pulled up the file on the flat screen behind him “he was left behind after he was shot in the leg by, we think, either Cadmus or Donavan”

“No, he wasn’t,”

They both turned to look back at the android. It held up the tablet

“Trajectory of the bullet indicates he shot himself in the leg” it explained

“Why would he do that?” Hank wondered

“Dunno,” the android shrugged “let’s ask him”

******

John Corbin was rubbing his injured leg when Astra and her new android shadow walked in

“Where’s Officer Donavan?” Astra demanded

“Offer me a deal” Corbin replied

“The only deal you’ll get is your choice of meal when they put the needle in your arm,” Astra snarled “now where is he?”

“Do you think that this was just a random act of violence?” Corbin countered “Cadmus doesn’t do ‘random acts’, we all know that,” he leaned forward on the table “offer me protection and immunity and I’ll tell you every dirty secret they have”

Astra promptly backhanded him across the face, breaking his nose in the process. Snarling, she grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head back

“Give me an answer!” she snarled, only to stagger back as her prosthetic leg suddenly buckled under her

“ _Synthetic fail…synthetic fail_ ” the feminine monotone announced as she staggered to the wall. A gentle hand on her arm kept her upright. Looking up, she blinked as the android gently eased her into the other chair in the room before it turned to Corbin

“We’ll transfer you to a safe house if you give us information” it offered

Corbin smirked

“West 23rd Street, Apartment 1A” he stated…

******

Astra grimaced as she staggered out of the interrogation room

“I don’t need your help, ‘bot!” she snarled as the android kept its grip on her arm

“No. What you need is olive oil”

Astra stared at the android as it eased her down into a chair

“Olive oil?” she echoed

“Yeah,” it nodded as it sat down “it works as lubricant, and because it’s organic it won’t corrode the bio-synthetic polymers in the prosthesis”

“Will not,” Astra corrected absently “you said ‘won’t’, synthetics are always precise”

“I’m running a conversation matrix;” it shrugged “makes me sound more human,” it frowned, studying her “I read your file,” it noted “you don’t like synthetics. In fact you were one of many officers who protested their inclusion in law enforcement to began with”

“Yeah, and nobody listened to me,” Astra shrugged “did you also know that a synthetic let my partner die during the Cadmus raid?”

“Yes,” was the unapologetic answer “and I’m sorry,” and it sounded sorry. If it was just running a program, it was very good one, even Astra kind of believed it right then “do you know why the Department of Justice phased out my model?” it asked

“Yeah, something about you feeling too much” Astra shrugged

“Most of us couldn’t reconcile our programming with what we were experiencing,” it explained, reaching out to stop Astra as she stood up “MX-43’s are logic-based, they react and respond based on probability facts and decision trees and are designed to feel _nothing_ ,” it shook its head “I am _not_ like them. Whatever you feel, I feel. I feel anger, I feel joy, and I even feel fear. And I know, that all of this anger that your showing the world right now is a ruse,” it looked at her with frightening intensity, t brown eyes—not the unnatural blue or green of most synthetics—bore into her “I know you’re scared”

Astra felt her hackles rise

“And what am I scared of?” she hissed

“You’re scared of being afraid,” the android pronounced “you’re scared of being vulnerable, of losing more than just your leg. That part of the reason why it isn’t working right. Because you’re rejecting it”

“You know nothing of me” Astra hissed

The android looked her square in the eye

“Maybe,” it shrugged “maybe not”

“Astra! We got a hit on the address! SWAT team’s en route!”

Abandoning the staring contest, Astra staggered upright and, after a few seconds of concentration, got her leg working again…


	3. The Kill Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter THREE! :=)

******

The address led to an old, largely abandoned apartment building in the old Ironworks neighborhood. Apartment 1A was on the fourth floor. Bypassing the non-functioning elevator the SWAT team took the stairs, everyone jerking to a stop at the large, barrel shaped device sitting in the hall, a long thin filament stretching from it to a door on the other side of the hallway.

“Recommendations?” the team leader asked his MX-43

“I have conferred with my counterparts,” it began “there is a high probability that the device is incendiary in nature, I recommend that the bomb disposal unit be contacted”

The team leader nodded slowly

“All right, you heard ‘em,” he announced “we wait for the bomb squad”

“Excuse me?” Astra demanded “Donavan could lying in a pool of his own blood right now! He could be _dead_ before the bomb squad gets here!”

“You heard the synthetic, Inze”

Astra turned to Alex desperately. Seeming to know what she was thinking, Alex brushed past several officers

“ALX halt your advance” the MX ordered as Alex examined the device

“Well?” Astra asked as approached the android, ignoring the team leader’s order for her to stand down

“Well, it’s not a bomb, that’s for sure. No fuses and no explosive material that I can detect”

“What’s with the wire?” Astra nodded to the filament

“It looks like a trip wire of some sort,” Alex replied with a shrug “as to what it triggers, I have no idea”

Astra drew her gun

“Let’s find out,”

Cautiously pushing the door open, Astra found herself in a small, one-room apartment

“What the hell?” she stared at the image of Donavan who was trapped in a small glass box of some sort

“Astra! Hey!” he called out “get me out of here!”

“Wait” Alex pointed to the trip wire, which was connected to a small canister attached to the top of the box on the inside

“Yeah,” Astra agreed as she knocked on the box with the butt of her gun “bulletproof,” she realized “Donavan? We’ll get you out of there, all right?”

Donavan gave her a weak smile in response

“Inze! We got activity out here!” the team leader called “this damn thing’s blinking!”

“I’ve got a electrical current” Alex announced as the small canister inside Donavan’s prison suddenly opened, a thick cloud of white gas suddenly the box, obscuring their view of Donavan as he began screaming before suddenly going silent with a strange gurgle. His lifeless body slumping against the side of the box, now covered with blisters…

******

“Damn it,” Astra swore as Donavan’s body was loaded into the coroner’s van. She looked up at Alex “get me a lab box, get a blood sample, I want to know what the hell they used on him”

“Don’t need a lab box,” Alex replied, picking up a syringe and filling it with a sample of Donavan’s blood before injecting it into her wrist “I’m preprogrammed with CSI field analysis software,” she explained “it’s inadmissible in court, though,” she frowned “now that’s odd, it looks like he died from anthrax”

“Anthrax?” Astra echoed “that’s impossible, all police officers are inoculated once they graduate,” she shook her head in confusion “can you send those results to the crime lab?”

“Already done”

“Good,” Astra nodded as she pulled out her cell phone “crime lab, please,” she requested “Kara? It’s Astra”

“ _Hi_ ” Kara cheered over the other end “ _hey, I hear you got partnered with android, huh?_ ”

“Yeah,” Astra groaned “look, I just sent you a blood test, can you double-check the results?”

“ _Sure thing,_ ” Kara replied “ _might take a few hours though, we’re still going over the evidence from the truck robbery_ ”

“That’s fine,” Astra dismissed “call me when you’re done”

******

Meanwhile, back at NCPD headquarters, John Corbin paused in the hallway as he jerked his head towards the men’s room

“Two minutes,” the officer escorting him ordered. Nodding, Corbin went inside the room and, making sure that he was alone, reached into his mouth and regurgitated a small device. Absently wiping his mouth, he stuck the device to the wall, opposite the door behind the mirror. Flushing the toilet for good measure, he stepped back out

“All right,” the officer took his arm again “let’s get you to your safe house”

******

“I’m sorry about Donavan” Alex apologized as Astra unlocked her apartment door, Alex following her inside as Astra turned on the lights

“Yeah, he was a good guy,” Astra nodded dimly as she sat down “why are you still here?” she wondered

“Captain Henshaw ordered me to keep an eye on you tonight,” was the reply “wanted to make sure that you were all right after what happened today”

Astra smirked

“Thanks” she muttered, and found that she meant it

“Is this you?”

She looked up, seeing that Alex was holding a picture frame

“Oh no, that’s my sister, Alura” she answered

“Identical twins”

“Yeah,” Astra chuckled “we were kind of rare growing up, even our parents got us mixed up at times”

“I’ve had that,” Alex remarked. She smirked at Astra’s confusion “android, remember? I’m just one out of dozens of identical models,” her smirk widened “you started to see me as Human today, didn’t you?” she teased

“Hardly” Astra scoffed

“Come on,” Alex cajoled “admit it, you did”

“I pled the Fifth,” Astra chuckled. She frowned “I’m missing something here,” she realized, suddenly standing up “don’t go anywhere” she muttered as she put her jacket back on

******

As Astra slipped out of her door, in downtown the police escort taking John Corbin to the safe house was suddenly ambushed. An SUV suddenly sped down the street, ramming the cruiser into the side of a building. Armed men burst from the vehicle and quickly peppered the car with gunfire, killing the two officers inside and destroying the two MX’s.

As the gunman stopped firing, one slowly approached the vehicle; John Corbin looked up as he panted for breath

“About bloody time you showed up!” he snarled “wait, what are—no!”

A final gunshot echoed down the street as John Corbin was shot execution-style in the head…


	4. The Right Reasons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter FOUR! Enjoy! :=)

******

It was raining as Astra slogged through a side alley in Panasia, once just known as ‘Chinatown’ the neighborhood had been renamed following the political unification of most of Asia. Stopping at a door, Astra grimaced slightly at the word stenciled on it in faded red paint

Recollectionist

Memory recollection, a semi-legal procedure where a machine stimulated the memory centers of the brain to retrieve lost or buried memories. First touted as potential therapy for Alzheimer’s patients, the procedure was swiftly banned almost as soon as it hit the market, the risk of seizure or serious brain damage or even death from the strain was too high in the opinions of many doctors.

Despite that, the temptation to relive memories of deceased loved ones or important events in one’s life outweighed the risk for some, and like abortion half a century earlier, the technology for memory recollection just went underground, falling into the hands of scores of unscrupulous, greedy practitioners working out of dingy, back alleys, falling into a legal grey area, the benefits from ethical use of the technology—helping Alzheimer’s patients or those with traumatic brain injuries recover vital memories—dissuaded lawmakers from completely outlawing it, but the risks also discouraged them from completely legalizing it either for fear of the massive health risk.

Knocking on the door, Astra waited as the door opened, a man leaned out, peering at her cautiously

“Yeah?”

“June 20th 2048, 1333 hours” Astra replied, holding up a wad of cash

The man glanced between her and the cash, this one it seemed had a conscious

“That’s more than a year, it’s too risky” he advised her

Astra held up her badge

“You can take the money or I can take you in. Your choice”

The man sighed

“Come on”

******

“Astra!” Hank Henshaw looked around the bullpen “Vasquez! Where’s Astra?”

“Haven’t seen her since this morning, sir”

Hank scowled as he stalked back into his office and pulled up a file on his computer

“Call ALX-459” he ordered

“ _Calling ALX-459_ ”

******

_Smoke curled around her…the smell of burning gunpowder filled her nose. Groaning, Astra lifted her head, giggling madly at the sight of her amputated leg as the smoke cleared slightly, canisters of myklon red appearing through the haze, along with another canister marked ‘CLASS-A PROGRAMMABLE SINGLE-STRAND DNA_ …

Gasping, Astra jerked up off the exam table, finding Kara and Alex standing over her

“I tried to stop her!” the recollectionist exclaimed as Astra choked for air

“Breathe! Breathe!” Alex ordered as she injected a syringe into Astra’s arm “just breathe”

******

Astra was still shaking slightly as she slurped her noodle soup. Across the narrow table from her, Kara and Alex stared at her with equal looks of concern

“Are you crazy?” Kara suddenly exclaimed “do you know how _dangerous_ memory recollection is?! You could have died!”

“At the crime scene today, I remembered something, something connected to both the Cadmus raid seventeen months ago and the truck robbery today” Astra explained

“Myklon red” Alex reasoned

“Myklon red,” Astra confirmed “but I was missing the key element, and I found it tonight at the recollectionist: programmable DNA”

“Programa—oh my god,” Kara gapped “if Cadmus has gotten their hands on programmable DNA—”

“Then they could create a whole variety of bio-weapons” Alex reasoned

“That explains Donavan’s blood work,” Kara explained “his immune system basically went haywire. Whatever that gas was made his immune system think that it was being attacked by over one hundred different diseases, producing more than a dozen defensive responses”

“Let me guess,” Astra began “the same one hundred diseases that all NCPD officers are inoculated for”

“Damn,” Alex swore, before she frowned “here’s what I don’t get,” she began “why Donavan? Why not just any other cop?”

“Opportunity?” Kara suggested “I mean, he was on his lunch break”

“No, she’s right,” Astra realized “Cadmus doesn’t do anything without a reason. If they were just looking for a cop, they could have just abducted a traffic cop or other patrol officer, somebody who doesn’t always have an MX joined to their hip”

“Is that meant to be a comment?” Alex asked “because if it is, I take offense to it”

“No, it…,” Astra broke off with a tired yawn “damn”

“You’re exhausted,” Alex stated “your blood pressure is low and so is your heart rate, you need to sleep,” she stood up, easing Astra up out of her seat “come on, bedtime”

Astra groaned and glowered at Kara

“You’ve been talking to it, haven’t you?”

Kara beamed

“I pled the Fifth…”

******

Since Astra was too tired to drive, Alex drove, Astra had wanted to drive herself, but the blurry image of three versions of Alex convinced her otherwise. Staggering into her apartment, she collapsed down onto the couch, Alex joining her, and in the soft glow of the lights, the android looked very Human

“You’re staring” Alex noted

“Sorry,” Astra shook her head, a slight slur to her words “just…why’d they make you so pretty?” she wondered “huh? ‘Cause, I don’t like pretty robots”

“If you don’t like pretty robots, then why did you just call one pretty?” Alex countered, chuckling as she reached out and brushed a lock of Astra’s hair away from her face “I’m curious,” she began “this white streak in your hair, is that a dye job, or natural?”

“Hmm, natural,” Astra chuckled “just like the rest of me” she grinned and winked at the android, suddenly seized by the urge to touch it. Giving in to temptation, she reached out and gently ran a finger across Alex’s cheekbone

“Pretty realistic, isn’t it?” Alex chuckled “my skin”

“Yeah,” Astra agreed, suddenly getting lost in deep brown eyes “why is that?” she wondered “I mean, the skin on the MX’s doesn’t look this real”

“My designer believed that artificial intelligence wasn’t just another form of ‘fancy computing’ as he called it, but the birth of new life. Something that thinks and feels like a human should also be allowed to look like one as well,” she took Astra’s hand and gently placed it over one breast “see what I mean? Feels real doesn’t it?”

Astra swallowed, nodding stupidly. She must still be a little woozy from the recollectionist, this was dangerous, sexbots were illegal for a reason, but that got her thinking about how _real_ Alex looked, how real she _felt_ , about how Astra didn’t want to strangle her like she did with every other human being on the planet, about lonely she was, so she found herself asking

“Are you…? I mean can you even…?”

Alex chuckled and nodded

“I’m anatomically correct, if that’s what you’re asking,” she answered “fully functional, too”

“So, you can…?”

“Have sex? Yes”

“And, you can actually be…attracted to, to someone?” Astra stammered out, finding herself falling towards Alex, drawn to the android like a moth to a flame, no longer seeing her as an android, but just as Alex

“Yes” Alex breathed as she closed the distance between them…

******

Astra awoke due to a clap of thunder outside, that storm that the news had been reporting on had finally hit it seemed. Looking around, she found that she was wrapped tightly around Alex, her nude skin pressed tightly against Alex’s own synthetic skin. It should have felt disgusting, repulsive, she had just had sex with an android. What would Alura say? What would Kara say? But at the moment she couldn’t think a reason as to why it was wrong, only reasons as to why it was so right.

Snuggling closer to her synthetic bedmate, she closed her eyes, falling into a sleep that, for the first time in a long time, was free of nightmares…


	5. The Missing Link

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter FIVE! :=)

******

Astra blinked awake. It was still dark out, probably past midnight she reasoned. Something was niggling at the back of her mind, but what she didn’t quite know yet

“Are you all right?”

She blinked at the soft voice to her side, absently rolling over to face Alex

“Sorry, did I—no, sorry, you don’t sleep do you?” she chuckled

“Not as you’d understand it, no,” Alex confirmed “but I do go in a low power mode every once in awhile to review and backup memory files

Backup.

Astra sat up

“What happened to Donavan’s MX?”

“It was taken for disposal,” Alex replied “the crime lab couldn’t recover anything useful from its neural net”

“Or maybe they did, but just didn’t know it,” Astra realized “you said it yourself, MX’s work on logic and probability, you don’t,” she threw back the covers “get dressed”

******

The synthetic recycling plant was still open when they walked in, making their way through dizzying maze of machinery, before finally coming upon the proper yard

“Got it,” Alex pulled a cart over, unfurling the tarp to reveal Donavan’s now dead MX. Frowning, Alex examined it “you were right, the backup drive’s still intact”

“Can you get the data out?” Astra asked

“I can certainly try,” Alex replied as she opened a port on the side of the MX’s head and pressed her index finger to the circuitry “most of the data’s been corrupted” she announced

“Try to find anything from the kidnapping”

“Got it” Alex announced as a port near the MX’s eye opened, a flickering holographic screen projecting from it, displaying a choppy, pixilated view of Donavan’s abduction

“All right,” Astra nodded “the techs were looking for something that the MX saw. But what about what it _heard_?”

“Enhancing audio”

“ _…took something…ours…Dect…_ ” one of the abductors was heard to say as they loaded the hooded Donavan into the SUV

“All right, they’re trying to get something back, but what?” Astra wondered

“One of Donavan’s case files is missing from the database,” Alex announced “but the records show that he logged something into evidence separately at the same time that he filed the case report”

“What was the evidence?”

“Uh-oh,” Alex disconnected from the MX and turned to face Astra “two X-31 combat microprocessors”

“Fuck!” Astra swore “Cadmus could build an army of robots with those things!” she realized as she pulled out her phone “and that explains the bio-weapon”

“They’re going to retrieve the evidence,” Alex finished “tonight”

******

At that moment, a commandeered, military grade, silent-running helicopter landed on the roof of police headquarters, depositing a team of a dozen men. As the chopper veered off, the men quickly hooked up several canisters of myklon red to the ventilation system…

******

“Hank?” Astra breathed a sigh of relief as Hank answered

“ _Astra, what is it?_ ”

“Cadmus, they’re going to raid the evidence locker!” Astra explained hurriedly as Alex drove, the car speeding through the streets “you need to evacuate the building! Everyone, every floor! Hurry!”

******

At that moment, a EMP bomb went off on the roof of police headquarters, taking out the lights and comms., but not the MXs, who struggled to restore order as people hurried for the exits, scores of people spilling out of the building as Alex and Astra pulled up to the front entrance and fought their way inside

“Emergency generator’s kicked in” Astra noted as the emergency lighting kicked in. Suddenly the MX’s began collapsing, toppling over like dominos one-by-one

“Not good” Alex proclaimed

“Why aren’t you shutting down?” Astra wondered

“I operate on a different frequency then them,” Alex explained. She smirked “there are perks to being outdated”

Astra smirked in response

“Come on”


	6. The Raid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter SIX! Enjoy :=)

******

Cadmus’ gunmen stormed down the emergency stairs from the roof, shooting or gassing any officer they came across as they marched through the building, heading directly for the evidence locker…

******

“I found the signal they’re using to jam the MX’s” Alex announced 

“In the bathroom?” Astra exclaimed incredulously as she followed the android into the men’s room, where Alex quickly held up the device that John Corbin had planted a few days earlier “what the hell is that?” Astra demanded to know

“Looks like some kind of signal jammer”

“And Hank did say that Corbin had been killed by Cadmus,” Astra nodded along “damn it, he wasn’t an escapee, he was a _decoy_!”

“Looks like it” Alex agreed

“Can you shut that thing off?” Astra demanded

In response, Alex quickly crushed the device in her hand

“Done”

“It’ll take time for the MX’s to all reboot,” Astra realized as she checked her ammunition. Still fully loaded and so far they had yet encounter any Cadmus thugs “looks like it’s just you and me”

“Looks like” Alex nodded as they exited the room, a masked figure in black suddenly tackling Astra, pinning her to the wall with abnormal, but human, strength. Not an android, she reasoned, but he was probably hopped up on something, like PCP or speed

“GET HIM OFF ME!!” she roared as Alex swiftly grabbed the assailant by the shoulders and easily flung him down the hallway. Turning back to Astra, she held out a hand

“You all right?” she asked

“Swell,” Astra coughed out as she allowed herself to be pulled upright “come on, evidence locker” she nodded

******

Meanwhile, as the MX’s slowly rebooted and reactivated, Hank managed to get access to the comms and the internal cameras

“Astra?”

“ _Here. Great to hear your voice, Hank_ ”

“Likewise,” Hank panted out “we’ve got hostiles in the server room, that’s just one floor above you. If you can cut them off it might buy us enough time to seal off the evidence room”

“ _Copy that_ ”

******

The server room was largely deserted when Astra and Alex suddenly burst in, both ducking gunfire as Cadmus opened fired almost-immediately

“Go! Lock them out of the system!” Alex ordered over the hail of the gunfire

“What about you?!” Astra demanded

“I’ll be fine!” loading her own gun, Alex marched out into the hail of bullets, a good majority of the bullets ricocheting off her form as she took out two of the assailants. One turned and, raising a canister of myklon red, gassed her, the gas having no effect on a synthetic that didn’t need to breathe. Charging forward, Alex swatted the canister from his hands and then pinned him to the wall.

Struggling, the assailant pulled a pistol from his waistband, only to freeze as Astra pressed the barrel of her own gun to his temple

“Do it,” she hissed “I dare you”

“ _All officers, we have a code four,_ ” the comm. suddenly crackled to life “ _repeat, code four. Shooters are in custody_ ”

******

“How many did we lose?” Astra wondered as she overlooked the cavernous space of the evidence room

“Too many” Hank rumbled besides her

“They can’t have just been looking for two X-31 chips,” Astra shook her head “no chip is worth staging an assault of this level on police headquarters”

“You’re right. It’s not,” Hank agreed “which means that they were either looking for something in addition to the chips. Or…”

“ _Or_ , they were looking for something else entirely” Astra nodded grimly

“We will find it, Astra” Hank promised

Astra nodded

“Any luck decrypting Donavan’s files?” she asked

“No, looks like the device that Corbin placed not only jammed the MX’s but also hacked our systems,” Hank explained “that’s how they found Donavan”

Astra sighed as she looked down, spotting Alex among the rabble of MX’s scouring the shelves

“Hank,” she began “why did you assign Alex to me?” she wondered “I read her file, most of it was redacted. So what’s so special about her?”

Hank chuckled as he turned to her

“That’s exactly what’s so special about her,” he explained “she’s special. Like you”

“Oh, I’m special now, am I?” Astra scoffed

“Well, you did sleep with her didn’t you?” Hank shrugged “I’d say that means that you’re pretty special. Either that or perverted”

“Oh…god,” Astra groaned, burying her face in her hands “I don’t know _what_ I was thinking,” she shook her head “I mean, forgetting that she’s an android, I barely know her”

“Astra,” Hank rested a gentle hand on her arm “do you remember what the Department psychologist said when we asked if you were ready to come back?”

“Yeah. He said that I would be ‘better suited as criminal than being entrusted to hunt them down’.” Astra recalled

“And yet, here you are,” Hank shrugged “so, let’s just chalk up the liaison with Alex as a…momentary lapse in judgment,” he shrugged as he straightened up “unless you’re planning on doing it again,” he added as he walked away “which in that case, I don’t want to hear about it”

Shaking her head, Astra looked back down at Alex, who gave her a smile. Smiling back Astra decided to just do what she always did in regards to Alex: trust her gut…

******

“Is that olive oil I smell?” Alex asked as she came up to Astra about an hour later as Astra was signing out

“Oh. Yeah,” Astra felt her face heat up “tried it out on the leg”

“Works pretty good, doesn’t it?” Alex chuckled

“It does,” Astra confirmed “unless you count the fact that it makes me smell like a salad” she snorted. She smirked at the android “you know,” she began “you’re a pretty good partner”

“Thanks”

“Come on,” Astra patted her on the back “post-victory drink. I’m buying”

“You _do_ know that I don’t eat. Right?”

“It’s a tradition,” Astra dismissed “we found the bad guys, we stopped the bad guys, and—even better—I didn’t try to push you out of a moving car”

“I’d say that alone is cause for celebration” Alex quipped as they stepped out into the cold night air

“Hey,” Astra pulled up short as they reached her car “about last night…”

“It’s all right,” Alex dismissed “we can ignore it, pretend it didn’t happen. If you want, I can even actually forget it”

“And what if I didn’t want to ignore it?” Astra challenged “what if I wanted to do it again, even?”

Alex smirked

“I’d say…go for it”

Astra grinned

“Come on, drinks” she proclaimed…

**END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! :=). Anyone who wants me to continue this idea/'verse, just let me know, but for now, this is it. Hope everyone enjoyed it :=)
> 
> \--AXEe :=)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought :=)


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